NVision Raises $55M to Advance Quantum-Enhanced Cancer Imaging and Drug Development Platform
核心洞察
NVision (搜索) secured $55 million in Series B funding led by Abbott (搜索) to expand its quantum-based cancer imaging technology and venture into quantum computing for drug development.
The company's POLARIS platform uses quantum technology to enhance MRI signals by over 10,000 times, enabling real-time metabolic imaging that can determine treatment efficacy within days rather than months.
NVision (搜索) plans to deploy approximately 20 systems across major cancer centers by year-end and expects to begin human clinical studies in 2027 following regulatory discussions.
German-based quantum healthcare company NVision (搜索) has raised $55 million in Series B funding led by medical diagnostics giant Abbott (搜索), marking a significant milestone for the company's quantum-enhanced cancer imaging technology and its expansion into quantum computing for drug development. The funding round, which includes a $17 million venture loan from the European Investment Bank (搜索), brings NVision's total funding to $120 million and values the company at more than $250 million.
Revolutionary Cancer Imaging Technology
NVision (搜索)'s flagship POLARIS platform represents a breakthrough in cancer imaging, using quantum technology to amplify MRI signals from sugar-based imaging agents by more than 10,000 times. This enhancement enables standard MRI machines to measure tumor metabolism in real time, providing oncologists with critical feedback on treatment efficacy within days rather than the traditional months-long wait.
"We know that metabolism is the first thing to change when treatment is working," says NVision (搜索) cofounder and CEO Sella Brosh. "The MRI is a machine that we are leveraging. We are just adding the metabolic layer to the existing scan."
The technology addresses a fundamental limitation in current cancer imaging. While standard MRIs show broad disease outlines and PET scans reveal tumor growth, neither provides comprehensive insight into the biological activity occurring within tumors. NVision (搜索)'s quantum-based approach leverages the fact that cancer cells process sugar differently from healthy cells, creating detailed metabolic maps that appear like weather systems showing disease progression.
At Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, researcher Kayvan Keshari demonstrates how the technology transforms cancer visualization. The resulting images show tumor ecosystems with areas of serious disease glowing red and black, while green areas indicate indolent cancer that may not require immediate treatment. "The areas that are black are what will kill you. The green is indolent and people will even argue, 'This is not a cancer you should treat,'" Keshari explains.
Clinical Deployment and Regulatory Progress
POLARIS systems are currently being installed at major cancer centers including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the University of Cambridge, and the Technical University of Munich. NVision (搜索) expects approximately 20 systems to be deployed across the United States, Europe, and Asia by the end of 2024, including installations at MD Anderson Cancer Center and UCSF.
The technology is currently limited to research applications, but NVision (搜索) is actively engaging with the FDA and international regulators. Brosh expects the company to be ready for human clinical studies in 2027, representing a crucial step toward commercial availability.
The clinical implications extend beyond cancer treatment monitoring. NVision (搜索) believes its metabolic imaging could prove valuable for prostate cancer management, where distinguishing between low-grade tumors requiring watchful waiting and aggressive cancers needing immediate intervention remains challenging. The technology may also find applications in cardiology, neurology, and other disease areas by revealing previously hidden metabolic changes.
Quantum Computing Expansion
Beyond imaging, NVision (搜索) is leveraging its quantum research to enter drug development through quantum computing. While developing the MRI signal enhancement technology, the company discovered a new type of organic molecule-based qubit, the fundamental building block of quantum computers. These qubits are being integrated into photonic chips as part of a platform called Photonic Integrated Quantum Circuits (PIQC).
The quantum computing system is designed to work with standard semiconductor manufacturing technologies, potentially offering a more scalable approach than existing quantum computing methods. "Now they have something that most labs and academics have talked about, but don't have a demo to point to," says Prineha Narang, a physicist and professor at UCLA who recently joined NVision (搜索)'s scientific advisory board.
Integrated Drug Development Vision
NVision (搜索)'s long-term strategy involves combining quantum computing and quantum sensing into a unified drug development process. Under this approach, quantum computers would help design new drug candidates for previously "undruggable" targets, while the POLARIS platform would rapidly validate how those therapies behave in real biological environments.
"I see a future where quantum computers generate an explosion of drug hypotheses for diseases that are exceptionally difficult to treat today," Brosh states. "As we expand our ambition into quantum computing, building on our new class of organic molecule-based qubits, that future comes closer. POLARIS is built to enable rapid in-vivo validation and close the loop between design and reality."
This integrated approach aims to shorten the time and expense required to advance potential drugs into late-stage clinical trials. Peter Barrett, a general partner at Playground Global (搜索) who first invested in NVision (搜索) nearly nine years ago, describes the technology as "a molecular telescope that allows us to do things that had previously been impossible to do."
Company Background and Leadership
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Ulm, Germany, NVision (搜索) emerged from collaboration between Israeli-born physician Sella Brosh and physicist Ilai Schwartz. The company was spun out of the University of Ulm with three academic physicists as cofounders, following initial funding from the European Commission.
The development path involved significant technical challenges and multiple pivots. The team initially focused on using diamond defects to reveal magnetic fluctuations before transitioning to organic molecules and eventually developing their current quantum-engineered hydrogen gas technology. "If we weren't patient with the physics, they would have run out of money twice years ago," Barrett notes.
Abbott (搜索)'s leadership of the funding round aligns with the diagnostics giant's recent focus on early cancer diagnosis. The partnership provides NVision (搜索) with both capital and potential commercialization pathways through Abbott's extensive healthcare network and regulatory expertise.